Open research questions in Critical Theory and Philosophy
38 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,838 Critical Theory and Philosophy papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
Something of a disjunction, if not a dissonance, is produced as soon as one notices that Hamacher's Response to all the other Responses now has, or has been given, "the last word" in a way that could not have been registered at the time he wrote the essay "What Remains to Be Said" in 2016.
Both critiqued and defended on these grounds, debate about reflexivity and reflexive modernisation has been limited by a sociologically unsustainable vision of modern subjectivity, and has left theories of reflexive modernisation open to the accusation that they are blind to the relationship between subjectivity and social structure.
Addressing the problem of reflexivity in theories of reflexive modernisation: Subjectivity and structural contradiction · 2013 · DOIThe article demonstrates that the contribution that this concept could make to theories of modern subjectivity has been limited by the problematic assumption that reflexivity describes a form of critical rationality leading to emancipation from social constraint and the sovereign self-fashioning of identity.
Addressing the problem of reflexivity in theories of reflexive modernisation: Subjectivity and structural contradiction · 2013 · DOIWeber adds that if we adopt this 'curious concept' of academic freedom then the consequences are as follows: (1) On admission to a chair, the professor can and should be examined not only for his scientific qualifications, but also for his loyalty toward the current political rulers and ecclesiastical custom.
Caesarism, Charisma and Fate. Historical Sources and Modern Resonances in the Work of Max Weber by Peter Baehr (review) · 2010 · DOIOne of the earliest and still most profoundly challenging considerations of anthropology from a quarter- century that went on to see its share of critical engagements with the discipline, the book’s recent anniversary provides an opportunity to look back at Wagner’s argument and consider what it has taught us and what parts of its message may still remain to be assimilated.
What validity remains, then, in the notion of the 'great divide'? A full discussion of this matter would demand an assessment of the question of how far, in sociology, intellectual 'advance' comparable to that found in the natural sciences is possible, something which goes far beyond the scope of this paper.
Kant's reception in the most recent German sociology of Adorno, Habermas, Schelsky, and Dahrendorf should be investigated from just this perspective of an experi mental conception of history and society. The concept "economically given social period" is not understood by Marx as merely objectively, completely detached from the activity of human individuals.
I would recommend further research into stereotypes in the context of their primary anchoring in our minds and the “anchoring effect” itself, combined with stereotypes.
Theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of stereotypes in the context of concepts such as myth and prejudice · 2026 · DOIIt argues that these relatively unknown and understudied texts highlight the development of Habermas’s understanding of the relationship of theory to practice and also help explain his attraction to the Frankfurt School in general, as well as to Theodor Adorno specifically.
Habermas the Freelance Journalist: The Relationship between Theory and Practice in Habermas’s Early Career · 2024 · DOIFollowing these eleven Responses—anywhere between six and nearly forty pages in length—there is another text by Werner Hamacher, "What Remains to Be Said," which responds at surprising length to the preceding essays on his Theses.
The aim is both to propose an alternative understanding of Weber's thesis (different from today's predominant Kantian interpretation of it) and to investigate the still poorly explored affinity between Weberian sociology and Freudian psychoanalysis.
At the same time, reversing perspective, it permits us to focus on some open problems in Jaeggi’s critical theory, which deserve to be discussed with care.
While commentators agree that Honneth’s theory qualifies as a positive theory of recognition, I believe that the deeper reason for why this is an apt characterisation is not yet fully understood.
However, there is no consensus on what this contribution consists in, and so on precisely which normative principles should be marshalled to critique harmful or repressive forms of workplace organisation.
Briefly drawing on Hegel, an under-recognized historical influence on Rawls, I then correct Rawls by arguing for a conception of freedom that is internally related to broader solidaristic values associated with meaningful work.
Althusser's work, however, from his emphasis on the conjuncture as a singular condensation of overdetermined contradictions to his later writings on lasting encounters, brings forward the open question of political agency.
Secondly, it argues that the complexity of the beginnings of political resistance proves that an explanative gap remains to be filled to account for the way in which personal experience of disrespect can be transformed into a collective struggle for recognition.
The German sociologist Dirk Baecker is one of the most prominent voices within contemporary social systems theory and German sociology, but is not well known within the wider circles of international sociology.
I argue that classical theories – both critical and interpretive – fail to theorize sufficiently self-estrangement, a dimension of the concept that remains underexplored.
” The negative element in dialectics, where in the movement of sublation the subject remains undetermined and nonidentical, is argued to be the productive moment in the dialectical movement that leads to open-ended and ongoing processes of change.
‘Individualism’ became institutionalized as a core value in liberalism, an ideology which only grants negative rights to the ‘social’ or the ‘collective’: the pursuit of one’s own interests is limited by the injunction not to jeopardize the pursuits of others.
Assmann), the distinction between true and false in religion, should be examined more closely, but also the consequences of the “Philonic distinction” between identity and difference in monotheistic concepts of deity.
Perhaps because of the unsettled nature of these discus sions and the controversies they have provoked, there is a sense that the field is open to new inquiries and that the entire range of Weber's thinking on political topics has not been fully explored.
The uneasy relationship between older and newer aspects of ‘class’ within renewed class theory means the wider implications of inequality considered as individualized hierarchy (rather than as ‘class’) have not been fully explored.
Man is not understood to be merely an individual, but more importantly a “personhood” (Persönlichkeit), which was described as an inward spiritual life that arose through effort and self‐cultivation, or Bildung.
The discourse of German<i>Geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik</i>– A contextual reconstruction · 2003 · DOI
Most-cited papers in Critical Theory and Philosophy
- What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution? · Academy of Management Review · 1989 · 2,705 citations
- Class Identities and the Identity of Class · Sociology · 2004 · 218 citations
- The Essay as Form · New German Critique · 1984 · 132 citations
- Cultural vs Economic Capital: Symbolic Boundaries within the Middle Class · Sociology · 2015 · 78 citations
- Besides affirmationism? On geography and negativity · Area · 2020 · 50 citations
- Habermas' Method: Rational Reconstruction · Philosophy of the Social Sciences · 2008 · 41 citations
- Positivism in Sociological Practice: 1967–1990* · Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie · 1996 · 32 citations
- Three concepts of power: Foucault, Bourdieu, and Habermas · Power and Education · 2023 · 30 citations
- Critiquing – and Rescuing – ‘Character’ · Sociology · 2020 · 28 citations
- The discourse of German<i>Geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik</i>– A contextual reconstruction · Paedagogica Historica · 2003 · 27 citations
Most recent work
- The Art of Saying No: Hermeneutic Theorizing and the Force of Negation · Sociological Theory · 2026
- A RECONSTRUÇÃO DA TEORIA CRÍTICA EM JÜRGEN HABERMAS: ESFERA PÚBLICA E EMANCIPAÇÃO · Revista Tópicos · 2026
- Eight arguments against Axel Honneth’s critical theory of recognition · Journal of Political Power · 2026
- Postmetaphysical metaphysics? Habermas on philosophy and religion in <i>Also a History of Philosophy</i> · International Journal of Philosophy and Theology · 2026
- Theodor Adorno. Individual and State (translation from German, abstract and comments by Vitalii Bryzhnik) · International Scientific Journal of Universities and Leadership · 2026
- Towards a New Art of Integration · 2026
- Sociodrama: The Art and Science of Social Change. By D. Adderley, M. Belchior, A. Blasko, J. Damjanov, K. Galgoczi, M. Maciel, J. Tesza´ ry, M. Werner, and M. Westerberg. Erasmusþ, 2021 (e-book). · The Journal of Psychodrama Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy · 2026
- Social Atom Theory Revisited · The Journal of Psychodrama Sociometry and Group Psychotherapy · 2026
- Albert Schäffle and organicist sociology in the 19th century · Journal of Classical Sociology · 2026
- Penser l’histoire en tant qu’espace. En évitant le piège de la théorie de la reconnaissance · AUC INTERPRETATIONES · 2026
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